Court dismisses discrimination claim without jury trial

Jayne Szukalowski was hired by Bay de Noc Community College as its director of safety training in 2001.  In  2004, she tendered her resignation, arguing that her new supervisor had rendered her position untenable  ("constructively discharged her") as a result of gender dicrimination and retaliation under the Civil Rights Act. The Court of Appeals concluded that she offered only circumstantial evidence of discrimination, and held that her evidence that similar-situated males were treated differently was inadequate. 

In particular, the Court ruled that because the "comparable" male employee safety instructor had five more years' employment, a bachelor's degree, and wrote more grants, the plaintiff could not use him as a foil to demonstrate gender discrimination.